Noctura

fifty eight

lost chapter

"HOW IS Kaila?"

Otho scurries in, giving Mariela a shy smile. "She is well. Perfectly well. Doing fine. Hungry."

"She's hungry?" Mariela laughs. "Of course she is. She's always hungry. But she'll be able to eat tonight. Oh, won't she be able to eat."

Mariela stands up from the dining table. "I want to see her."

Otho nods. "Yes, yes. See her."

Mariela moves through the empty dining room, making her way toward the long hallway. She doesn't go up the stairs to the rooms above. Instead, she takes a different stairwell, descending into the dark.

She grins as she turns the corner.

There's a large, metal cage at the end of this room in the basement. Inside the cage is a young girl, a chain clamped around her neck. She's lying on her side on a small blanket inside the cage. There's a large water cup sitting empty next to her.

The young girl's wavy, chestnut hair is matted and dirty, strewn across the concrete floor her head rests on. She's wearing a white shirt that's ripped and dirty, black pants that Mariela had to buy for her because she tore her other pair to shreds.

"Kaila Hale."

The young girl looks up at Mariela. Her clear, piercing blue eyes stare into Mariela's eyes.

Mariela watches as the blue turns into violet and the white turns to black.

"Hello, my dear." Mariela moves closer to the metal cage. "Are you hungry?"

Kaila stares up at Mariela. "I'm always hungry."

Mariela lets out a small laugh. "That's true, isn't it? Well, you shouldn't be hungry for much longer. I'm thinking of letting you out of your cage."

Kaila tilts her head to the side. "Let me out? Why? So you can watch me suffer outside the cage?"

"Dear, everything I've done for you was to help you," Mariela coos. "If I just let you out on the streets, you would be killed immediately."

"I killed the people who did this to me," Kaila says. "Who says I can't kill everyone else?"

Mariela stops near the cage, but not too close. "You're strong, Kaila. You're the strongest Noctura I've ever known. And we're going to need that tonight."

"What are you planning?"

"A war." Mariela takes a step to the right, beginning to pace slowly, back and forth, in front of the cage. "A war between Nocturas and humans. I need you, Kaila. You are my greatest asset, my greatest ally. And you will be able to feed as much as you'd like, for as long as you like."

"Intriguing," Kaila responds. "But I'm not fully a Noctura, remember? I was turned into this monster. Why would I help the Nocturas anyway?"

"Who turned you into a Noctura?" Mariela stops and looks directly into Kaila's eyes. "Other Nocturas? No. Humans, Kaila. Humans turned you into a Noctura. I saved you from the outside world. I took you in and nourished you and gave you food."

"You've kept me in a cage," Kaila mutters. "You've forced me to go into starvation multiple times."

"Only because I've been busy!" Mariela defends herself. "I've been preparing for a war, Kaila. It's not my fault. I've taken care of you, still. You'd probably be dead if it wasn't for me. But that's besides the point. The point is, I'm going to let you out. And you're going to feed tonight on every human that will be trying to kill us. You know how it is when you let your instincts get to you, Kaila. You just need to do that tonight. You need to fight for us."

"And all I get is food?" Kaila scoffs. "I just want out of here. I want to be free."

"And once the Nocturas rule, you will be free." Mariela smiles coldly. "You won't have to worry about humans trying to kill you all the time. We'll rule over the humans, keeping them alive for our food. We won't kill them all off because we'll need to feed on something. But we'll keep them in our prisons and force them to keep the population going. We'll have food forever and we'll be free to live in this world as our own. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

Kaila thinks for a long moment, considering the options. "It does sound good. I don't think it'll work, though. Humans have ruled this whole time, right? How come the Nocturas haven't risen up before?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. All I care about is that we're going to rise up tonight and we're going to rule over Kraephis. Isn't that enough?"

Kaila sighs. "I just want out of here. If you can guarantee my freedom, I'll fight in this stupid war. I'll do it to eat."

Mariela lets out a laugh. "Of course, of course! And I might be able to introduce you to a friend soon."

"A friend?" Kaila narrows her eyes.

"Yes. Someone just like you. A human, once, but now a Noctura."

Kaila's eyes widen. "Someone... like me?" Her eyes fade back to their normal color and she looks like a normal, human girl, trapped in a metal cage.

Mariela smiles at Kaila. "I'll let you out tonight when we're ready to attack. I'm working on getting that friend to you. Don't worry about it, okay? You're going to do just fine tonight."

"Mariela, who's the friend?"

She doesn't answer. She moves toward the stairs.

"Who's the friend?" Kaila screams. Her eyes turn back to violet and black. "Mariela! Don't ignore me! Who's the friend? Who are they?"

Mariela lets out a small laugh as the only response.

Tonight, dear Kaila. She thinks. Tonight you might find out.